The Dornenburg and Ruhlman were birthday gifts. I have already made pancakes out of the Ruhlman!

I knew I would be seeing the VanderMeers when they were in South Carolina for Shared Worlds, and was very fortunate to interview Ann VanderMeer for the next episode of the podcast. I really enjoyed talking to her and hope you will enjoy that episode, posting next Tuesday.

Reiss is for my in-person book club, and the Hughes was near the Reiss on the shelf in the "African American" section of the used book store. Mental note: check out all these divisional groupings of history and literature because they are taking books away from the "literature" and "history" sections where I might expect to find them.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Surprise! This is an extra special bonus episode. Sometimes my books start to overwhelm me and I do what I can to get some of them out the door. I had been tweeting about the most recent round of book speed dating and decided I felt like talking more about it than a series of 140 character tweets. I recorded this episode at a table for one at the Reading Envy Pub. Join me!

I had started reading an eBook version of the Manguel through one of the academic platforms we have access to. Except Yale University Press didn't include the images in the eBook version. Blank squares kept instructing me to consult the print edition, which seems to counter why you would ever just buy an eBook! I had to request the print from interlibrary loan (this explains the strange call number, which is neither LC nor Dewey) because the images seemed to be important to the text.

After attending a Contemplative Pedagogy workshop in June, I have been looking for more ways to meditate, etc. I spent my lunch hour Monday on the floor of one professor's office doing a body scan from one of the Kabat-Zinn CDs, so I checked the rest out from the library.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

I have sent this information so frequently in e-mails lately that I decided I should have it more easily available. I am perpetually hungry for podcast guests! Here are some frequently asked questions.

Who are you looking for to be on the podcast?
Most guests are people who read - all ages, all genres.

I also look for people who are in interesting or unique book clubs. For this kind of episode, it is best to have more than one person.

I'm an author/publisher/editor and want to pimp my latest project. Are you interested?
I have had authors from time to time, but usually I am asking them because I think they have an interesting perspective or I already know I enjoy their work and want them to talk more about it. I also try to stick to the concept of authors-who-read. I might be convinced of it but that is just not the primary purpose of the podcast.

Since we're on the topic, will you review my book?
You can ask, but I only take review copies for books that interest me. I already have several avenues to acquire review copies and still want time to read non-review books. I also do not talk about every book I read on the podcast, because I read over 200 books a year.

How can I get on the schedule?
Contact me, readingenvy [at] gmail. We will discuss the particulars. Since I post an episode every two weeks, I try to record every two weeks. I have Thursday nights blocked out for recording but am completely flexible - otherwise I would not be able to have podcast guests from overseas!

Can I bring a friend?
Yes! I think the magical number is three people at once, including me. If you have another reading friend who wants to be on the podcast at the same time, that would be great. I have at times paired strangers together.

How are the episodes recorded?
Right now I record through Skype into a program called Audio Hijack. If I record in person, I record directly in Audacity.

What are the technical requirements?
It works best if each person has at least a headset mic and is plugged into an internet connection (not just wireless). That said we have successfully recorded podcasts using internal mics, cellphones, etc. If we are new to each other, we might decide to test Skype ahead of time.

If you live within an hour radius I will probably try to record in person, because the sound quality is better without the internet involved.

How can I prepare for the episode?
This depends on how many people are on the episode. If it is just two of us, each of us will bring three books to talk about. These should be books you liked and read recently enough that you can discuss them. Please don't feel like you have to pick the THREE GREATEST BOOKS OF ALL TIME because that really isn't the point. If there are three of us, each person only needs to bring two books. Be able to summarize the book and find an excerpt to read if possible (some books are not as conducive to excerpting, and if you have an advanced reader copy of a book, we can't include excerpts.)

I also ask guests who are new to the podcast about what they like to read in general, and let guests plug any online presence or project they want to, as long as that isn't their sole reason to appear.

I've never done anything like this before and I'm hesitant/nervous
Don't worry! I remember my nerves the first time I was on the SFF Audio podcast. Sometimes things go wrong - Siri will start talking, a dog will bark, a phone will ring. I can edit that kind of thing out. I also edit out awkward pauses and people that go on too long. Ha. I'm not just posting raw audio to the internet. I don't record on separate tracks so if one person's noise covers up another person's comments, that can be more difficult. We will try hard to overcome all obstacles, but I'm a big fan of the "good enough" philosophy. You love to read? We'll make it work.

Some people have used the strategy of a nickname, and that is always fine. Nobody has to know it is you.

Another suggestion I make is to listen to a few episodes. If you are a book club, try episodes 013, 015, or 023. If you are the rare author/editor/publisher I have asked to be a guest, try episodes 021 or 029. Any of the other episodes will give a sense of the more standard episodes, but some personal favorites include episodes 004, 025, and 033.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Jenny sits down with Paul Weimer who is no stranger to podcasts. In fact one of his podcasts was nominated for a Hugo Award in 2014! We get together to talk about his personal reading challenge for the year, with some discussion on language and translation that happened on its own.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

I was in Beaufort, SC last week on vacation and many of the new books in my house come from that trip. I also have some birthday presents on this pile, as well as some books my father-in-law brought home from Charleston and gave us. I brought fiction set in South Carolina with me on my trip (which I will discuss on an upcoming podcast episode) but we came home with a bunch of non-fiction.

I also picked up an adult coloring book (they are all the rage) and a bookmark about the upcoming Pat Conroy festival for his 70th birthday. He is the local darling of Beaufort since he lives there, and the two bookstores we visited had a Pat Conroy section. s